Weller Campground

I couldn’t get into a campground closer to Aspen as I left, so when this appeared I took it.

There are 11 sites and only three of us were there, so it didn’t feel crowded at all.

All the sites are tucked in among the aspens on a hillside. Bear boxes & fire pits. There’s a hand water pump for water, and there I one privy with two pit toilets. No campground host.

When I had earlier checked online for spots at nearby camping literally nothing was available. So I was happy to get this one.

Would I stop here again? Absolutely. Would I make this a destination? Not really.

If you can't show a better campground nearby like lost man campground, this tiny option can work. Small Adjacent sites big enough for a car and tent and table but not much more. Visually nice as it is in the aspens but within meters of the busy road and on a hill so half the cats are climbing. and your neighbors are super cozy nextdoor. Good option if you are exhausted or everywhere else is taken, but sim for others if you can. We arrived around 10 on a weekday in July and found a few open spots.

We drove to Lost Man Campground where the NF service decided to close in September which was total BS. We backtracked to Lincoln Dispersed with the same results. So we settled for this campground which only had two sites available on Sept 29. For $25 a night we found this to have very little privacy and loud road (Rt82) right next to it. The bathroom was the worst I’ve seen in the 6 week road trip and the water was already turned off. The views were nice and it you could get a site on the outer ring it might be more enjoyable. There are some easy and beautiful hikes around this area. When we return to this area it won’t be so close to the end of the season and we will try NOT to be at this campground again.

Weller campground has decent sized campsites surrounded by Aspen trees and overall it was nice and pleasant but the close proximity to Independence Pass Road was occasionally loud, I would give this a higher rating if the road wasn’t there. Many of the campground photos show a creek but that’s actually not in the campground and is located on the trailhead that’s accessed from across the road at the Weller Trailhead parking lot. There are bear bins in the campsites and the campground has bear-resistant trash cans. When I camped there in mid September the temperature was 38 degrees F at 6am.

This is one of the smaller sites alongside the main road you will find just a short distance outside of Aspen. I was passing through late in the season, technically during "closure" but was able to snag a site because it had not yet been closed due to unusually warmer fall. There had been some snowfall higher up but where I was there had not so the camp had not been closed. They had however turned off the potable water source but vault toilets and sites remained open.

I was located in site 5 which had a small back in area, a picnic table and fire ring. There were also bear boxes throughout camp, which you need to use if you are here because there is a population of bears that will raid camp. I made sure to keep any food in the car behind doors and cleaned up away from camp with my own water source so as to not attract anything to come near. Bears do scare me a bit!!

The site for my tent was lush and grassy, it had not yet frozen or died for the season so it felt very fluffy underneath my tent.

Temperatures dropped dramatically at night and I was happy there was no fire ban when I visited because I used my fire for a heat source in the evening and then hand warmers inside extra socks at night. It was pretty peaceful at the camp as a whole.

While there I enjoyed hiking on the Weller Trail which heads directly out from the parking area near the camp and treks a short distance with some amazing views. I was so happy to have found this site for only $21.

TIPS:

• Typical season is May to the end of September if it is before or after this time check with the Forest Service to see if they have opened camp for season.

• Bring a flashlight there is no external light at the campground so you will not be able to see anything without one.

We initially wanted to camp up by Maroon Bells, but there were no campsites available, so we turned around and headed back to Weller. We had a great experience here and it was a perfect little camp ground. We stayed in spot 9! Highly recommend this spot to anyone in Aspen!

This campground is easily accessible from the main road and has quite a few campsites. It's nice but we like to be more secluded while camping, so we were extremely disappointed that it's right next to the road. If you're looking for a more classic camping "experience", I would try somewhere else.

Pros: easy, sites are fairly private

Cons: lots of road noise, nothing special

This Campground is awesome!! Just be smart with your food, there is lots of Bears in the canyon! Beautiful campground, awesome host and quiet!!! We try to camp at Weller 1-2 times per summer!